New push to declare Easter Sunday public holiday to enable penalty rates

THE State Government is no closer to declaring Easter Sunday a public holiday, more than two years after asking for feedback on the idea.

The state’s most powerful union wants the day proclaimed a public holiday so workers can receive penalty rates and have the right to refuse shifts to be with family or attend religious services.

But the business sector argues there are enough public holidays in the long weekend and employers cannot afford to pay higher penalty rates on another day.

Penalty rates became a divisive issue in the lead-up to last month’s election. Now the Restaurant and Catering Association of SA has launched a renewed campaign against two part-day public holidays on Christmas and New Years eves, introduced in 2012.

The association says the holidays have caused a 63 per cent rise in restaurant and cafe closures and caused SA employers to pay the highest hourly rates for casual workers on the part-day holidays.

However, the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employee’s Association says employer lobby groups are “unfairly blaming penalty rates” for businesses choosing not to open on public holidays, including Easter.

“There are hundreds of both small and large businesses trading on Sundays and public holidays and hundreds of workers are earning penalty rates throughout the year and Easter is no exception to this,” SDA secretary Peter Malinauskas said.

Easter Sunday is not officially a public holiday in SA.

NSW is the only state that gives the day special holiday status. Under the Holidays Act 1910 every Sunday is technically a public holiday, but by convention this does not afford workers penalty rates each week. These are instead set out in industrial awards or contracts.

In early 2012, the Government released a discussion paper on removing the public holiday status of all Sundays and prescribing Easter Sunday as a public holiday in its own right - but it is yet to make a decision.

Industrial Relations Minister John Rau said in a statement that he had discussed potential changes with union and business leaders “on a number of occasions” and discussions were “continuing”.

In submissions on the issue, church leaders and unions argued for the change, while Business SA and retailers such as Myer and Coles were opposed.

The majority of submissions to the public consultation argued Easter Sunday should not be prescribed a public holiday.

“This is a difficult issue. Any change would need to balance the needs of both businesses and workers,” Mr Rau said.

Many people who work on Sundays are paid double time, while those who work on public holidays are paid double time and a half.

SDA Secretary Peter Malinauskas said the omission of Easter Sunday from the public holiday calendar was a “glaring anomaly”.

“I think most people are under the understanding that Easter Sunday is a public holiday now,” he said.

“The SDA believes that employees who work unsociable hours such as late nights, weekends and public holidays should be fairly compensated.

“We have this situation that Easter Saturday and Easter Monday are both public holidays but Easter Sunday is not.”

Mr Malinauskas said people who worked over the Easter break deserved to be compensated for missing time with their family on such a significant day.

Business SA director of policy Rick Cairney said employers could not afford to pay another day of high penalty rates.

Liberal industrial relations spokesman Iain Evans said the Opposition was not proposing changes but urged the Government to “put people out of their misery and either say they’re going to change it or they’re not”.

“I wouldn’t think that (declaring another public holiday) should be a priority for government frankly, the priorities should be the things that we’ve raised, like tax reform and the WorkCover scheme,” he said.

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